


Bumps and Bruises

by Amethystfairy1



Series: Soulmate Shots [14]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bonding, Bruises, But they're fine, First Meetings, Injury, M/M, Minor Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Minor Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Soulmates, Third Gym (Haikyuu!!), Training Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 02:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21979948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethystfairy1/pseuds/Amethystfairy1
Summary: Considering all things, Kuroo Tetsurou was sitting pretty.Sure, he hadn't met his soulmate yet, and he was 18, so most of the people he knew had met theirs by now, but that didn't bother him.It didn't strike anything when he saw Lev looking at Yaku with those stupid puppy love eyes, or the way Bokuto was so excessively happy whenever Akaashi was around. It was fine, he was fine, and he didn't have any issues with it.Ok.That was a lie.But to contemplate further tended to get him depressed, so he tried to brush those things aside. He might be a third-year, but he wasn't an old man. He'd meet his soulmate sooner or later.Accidentally body-slamming them wasn't part of the plan, but then, fate had its way to get things done, so he supposed he shouldn't worry about it.{In which Kuroo is a bit too lost in his thoughts, Tsukishima didn't ask for any of this, pain is the only thing reaching through their thick skulls, and bruises may heal, but these feelings sure as hell aren't going away}
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Series: Soulmate Shots [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/571063
Comments: 13
Kudos: 280





	Bumps and Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> TsukkiKuroo time! Yay!!! So this is the Soulmate Au with bruises, meaning the first time you touch your soulmate, wherever they touch you end up bruised. Pretty badly, too. I haven't written this version of Soulmate!AU yet so please let me know what you think! Also a big thank you to my dear friend who suggested using the bruises idea for TsukkiKuroo! ^-^   
> Please enjoy~

So you see, Kuroo had never much clung to the idea of soulmates.

As far as he knew, the bruises were painful and stuck around for a while after the first encounter anyway. It sounded pretty uncomfortable to him. Then again, most people would get away with a bruised hand from a handshake or a bruised shoulder from bumping into each other.

He wasn’t worried about it.

Of course he wasn’t.

This had absolutely nothing to do with how he was already eighteen, most people would have met their soulmates by now, and he was sitting pretty with no bruises or anything showing up. It had nothing to do with how happy Bokuto seemed with Akaashi, or how even Yaku had felt bad about the bruises that had shown up on the backs of Lev’s knees from a kick, even if he wound up with matches ones on his shin for the trouble.

Nope.

Nothing at all.

Kuroo heaved a sigh as he leaned his head against the wall behind him.

_Ok. Maybe it has to do with this a little bit._

He was sitting outside the gym waiting around for the other teams to get there so the training camp could get underway, and it seemed vans were starting to mill their way into the parking lot.

Good, Kuroo didn’t need more time to contemplate, when left to his own devices, he could get caught up for hours on the concept of soulmates.

_Your perfect other half, all that bullshit. Sounds great, doesn’t it? I mean, all the others seem happy._

So yeah, he was a bit bitter. He could admit it, within the confines of his own heart. Yet he had to remind himself not everyone met their soulmates young, and while he might be feeling like an old man way too often, considering his role as a senior on his team, and the fast-approaching end to his high school career, he certainly wasn’t.

No need to be this caught up.

“Kuroo! Karasuno is here, get up!” Yaku’s voice came from near the steps, and with an overdramatic groan, the third-year got to his feet, brushing off the wayward thoughts for the moment.

**_The Third Gym._ **

“Oy, Glasses, could you throw up some blocks for us?” Kuroo had spotted the tall first-year from Karasuno making his way past the doors and waved him down. They didn’t have enough people to do the drills they wanted at the moment, and it didn’t look like this guy had anywhere important to be because of his meandering pace.

He received a scathing sideways glare in response to his request, so much so he internally flinched.

_What did I do?_

He pondered, but outwardly he kept his easygoing smirk.

The blonde seemed to weigh his options for a moment before walking towards them.

“I guess.” He mumbled, bypassing Kuroo and entering the gym.

_What’s got this guy so uptight?_

He wondered, but with a shrug, he followed along, while Bokuto began bouncing around the guy, pestering him for his name, among other things.

“I’m Tsukishima Kei.”

Tetsurou’s heart gave a funny little hiccup at the name, but he shook his head.

_I must be more tired than I thought…_

He considered, and with that, he elected there was nothing more to it.

**_Two Days Later._ **

Tetsurou could decidedly say he liked Tsukki.

The kid was clearly embittered towards a few of his teammates, and obviously, he was a bit hung up on something to do with their shared sport before now.

Still, it was apparent he was talented, not to mention harshly sarcastic, and every moment he spent talking to him, he felt enamored.

_Enamored? No. Definitely not enamored. Just…interested. He’s an interesting guy._

That was why he chose to sit with the loner first-year, nothing more.

They were in the third gym again, this time Hinata and Lev had joined up, and they were currently throwing up blocks for Bokuto’s overzealous spikes.

Kuroo had been throwing a few tips Tsukki’s way; as an older middle blocker to a younger one, it was only right of him. After all, he was a good person, and Kei was majorly talented, so who could blame Kuroo for wanting to see the little crow go far?

_Little, ha, he’s taller than me._

Not by much. Tsukki had him by maybe the span of a fingernail, and Kuroo liked to think his gravity-defying bedhead made up for it.

Right now, though, he needed to focus on the drill they were doing, because Koutarou was fast approaching the net, and Akaashi was preparing to toss again.

Suddenly, the owlish third-year darted from the left of the court towards the middle.

“Center!” He heard Tsukki shout, and, having been distracted, Tetsurou was a bit late on the uptake.

_Damn, I’m normally good at reading Akaashi’s tosses!_

Or anyone's tosses, but that was a matter for another time.

He didn’t have time for any small stuff, so he took two giant steps and launched himself, throwing his arms up. He put a bit to much into the push-off, though, because instead of coming up next to Kei, he wound up practically mid-air body-slamming into him.

Their arms knocked off each other to block the spike, hips slamming together, and there was enough force that Kuroo felt the contact against his ribcage.

Bokuto slammed the spike down, and their pressed together arms deflected it, back into the wing spiders court to the wooden floor.

They landed stumbling, and Kei’s hand flew to his side.

“Kuroo-san, what the hell!? How much do you weigh!?” He demanded loudly, poking tenderly at where their hips at collided.

Tetsurou was a bit confused until a painful ache crept its way up his side, blooming across his ribcage, all the way from his hip to the tip of his pinkie finger.

“Yeah, my bad, I got caught behind. Damn, that hurt worse than it should’ve, though.” The older admitted, lifting his black practice tee to investigate the injury.

At the sight, his eyes widened.

At every spot their bodies had made contact, running in messy splotches up his skin, were bruises.

Not like, just on the spot of hardest contact, reddened and fresh. These were darkened, painful-looking bruises, one constant running up from the waistband of his shorts, and a messy smattering across the side of his ribcage. Turning his arm, he saw more of the same, all the way up from his shoulder, even down to his pinkie finger.

“Bro!” Bokuto exclaimed excitedly, ducking under the net, eyes darting between the two of them.

Kei looked across to him with wide eyes. “You’re kidding me.” He said, but it held more astonishment than dislike.

Tetsurou couldn’t even find any snarky reply, just staring at him dumbly for a few seconds before his brain switched back on.

At that, he smirked. “You disappointed, sweetheart?”

Kei scoffed. “Never call me that again.”

“I’ll think of something better.” He said, making to raise his arm to wave it off.

Pain shot through his arm, and he let it go limp. “Might…not be able to throw a block for a bit, huh?”

Tsukishima grimaced. “Not tonight, that’s for sure. Damn, of all the ways…they’re everywhere.” He grumbled, lifting his own shirt to show an identical pattern of bruises.

Kuroo tilted his head. “Guess that really is my bad.”

“Hm.” After this, Tsukki said nothing.

**_The Next Day._ **

After informing the coaches of their unavoidable injuries, they were both subsequently benched for the last day of matches. Not like they could do much with the bruises stopping both of them from even raising their arm that much.

Instead, they wound up sitting outside the gym on the grassy hill, listening to the squeak of their teammate's shoes on the court inside.

“The internet tells me the bruises will heal to a bearable level in three days, and we won’t bruise each other again unless we do it on purpose,”Tetsurou reported, dropping his phone to the grass.

“Good. I need my right arm. You’re lucky it was your left side, you can still take notes.” Tsukishima commented, fingering tenderly at the purpling color of his right pinkie finger.

“Yeah…sorry. Really.” Tetsurou meant it. He shouldn’t have had to slam into Tsukki that hard, winding up making contact with _so much_ of him.

Yet, he didn’t regret it in the slightest.

If he hadn’t been behind, they likely never would have touched the entire camp. Never touched, never known they were soulmates, and where would they be then?

Speaking of.

“So…what do you want to do?” Kuroo asked.

Tsukki raised an eyebrow at him. “Do? Not move, considering my entire right side is in agony.”

“Stop being dramatic, I’m in the same boat…and that’s not what I meant.”

Kei seemed to have it dawn on him just _what_ was meant after this. “Oh. _Oh._ Um…”

He hesitated, before turning to look towards the gym again.

It was clearly just to avoid Tetsurou’s gaze, but the older let it slide.

“…I mean, we’re soulmates. Isn’t that self-explanatory?”

Kuroo frowned. “I mean, yeah, but that doesn’t mean we can just…I don’t…”

He searched for better words. “…I like you. I liked you from the minute we met, so…I think I’d like to give this a try. Is that ok with you?”

_I have never been so straightforward in my life, I hate this!_

It was humiliating to be certain, but it needed to be said.

Kei let his eyes wander back to the other, and Tetsurou tried to ignore the itch in his good hand to reach out again.

Even if it was just to brush into contact again. After all, he had no intention of leaving any more bruises.

“Yeah. Fine with me, Kuroo-san.” Tsukki said, but it was rather short.

“That wasn’t convincing.” Tetsurou pointed out.

“What do you want to do, tearfully proclaim my love for you? It’s been three days.” Kei shot back.

“Ok, ok, touché, but I mean it. I want this to be something both of us would be happy with.”

Kei searched his face, and Tetsurou wondered if he were searching for some sort of dishonesty.

This time, the first-year gave a lengthly sigh, flopping onto his back in the grass. “This is too complicated. I hate feelings.”

Kuroo snickered. “You don’t get a choice, angel.”

“Nope.”

“Alright, I’ll think up another one.”

At this, he heard a little bit of something dangerously close to a chuckle escaping Kei’s mouth, and so he laid back next to him.

A moment went by, with the two of them staring up into the clouds together.

“…so…the romance thing?”

“Oh, great, is that what we’re calling it?”

They both turned their heads towards each other at the same time, winding up a bit too close on the grass.

It was quiet a few moments more, then Tsukki spoke.

“Let’s try it. I mean, I _want_ to try it. But let’s…just not go crazy, alright?” At the end of the sentence, things got tense again, so Kuroo hummed.

“Well, we live pretty far from each other, it’s not like I’ll be showing up at your window.”

“You better not.”

“Oh, you’ve tempted me, darling.”

“No.”

“Dammit.”

This got another barely-there chuckle from Kei’s mouth, and Kuroo smiled. More genuinely, with less of the thinly veiled mockery that usually hung about.

So they spent the rest of the day out on the hill, staring up at the clouds together, occasionally making comments to each other here or there about the shape of the clouds, or how loud their teammates were being, or ‘oh look Karasuno is running another punishment you guys suck’ or ‘oh look Nekoma is running a punishment guess they’re lost with me’ both of which Kei rolled his eyes at, returning with his own scathing comments that were shorter yet held just as strong a jab.

It wasn’t much more than a start, but it would do.

Later that evening, as the teams were headed off, Kuroo walked along with Kei to the stairs descending to the bus.

He was about to give his goodbye when the bespectacled boy stuck his left hand out. “Gimme your phone.”

Tetsurou obliged, producing the item from his pocket and handing it over.

Tsukki tapped at it for a moment, then returned it, reaching into his pocket for his own cell phone, which again he checked over before turning. “Alright…see you.”

“That’s all I get!? Tsukki!” Tetsurou whined, chasing the blonde down the first few steps.

“What else do you want?”

Kuroo tapped his chin as if deeply considering it. “Well, a goodbye kiss is probably out of the question, so how about…”

Before he could finish, a light press of lips landed on his cheek, and then Kei was rapidly retreating down the stairs, hunching his shoulders as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just done.

“Bye.” He said shortly.

Tetsurou felt his face lighting up with a blush, and swallowed, calling after him.

“Nice meeting you!”

In reply, Kei just raised his left arm slightly as a wave goodbye, fleeing to his team's bus to avoid any further embarrassment.

Kuroo watched them pulling out of the parking lot, and without thought, raised his left arm to wave.

A fresh wave of pain rocketed down his side, causing him to grit out a moan and drop it again.

_Ok…so the bruises do suck…and I’m stuck with them for a few days, at least._

He put a finger to his cheek, where Kei has kissed him, and winced at the tenderness.

Bruised.

_He left a bruise on purpose…what a petty move…_

He chuckled in spite of himself, smiling despite the ache that spread upon his cheek now at the movement, thanks to his soulmate's little trick.

_This is gonna be one hell of a bumpy ride…isn’t it?_

For sure, but somehow, Tetsurou knew it would all be worth it.

Worth the bumps, and the bruises, and everything in between.

**Author's Note:**

> There we are! Ok, TsukkiKuroo is checked off the list. Let's see who else we've got...  
> DaiSuga  
> IwaOi  
> AsaNoya  
> And also if you guys wanna see any pairings I've already done in different versions of the Soulmate!AU then drop that down below as well! Plus anyone else you'd like to see! Who knows, I might get a sudden idea and do something else entirely, so anything goes! Thanks for reading!


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